chapter08. landline & mobile vas

E2-E3/E&WS/Landline & Mobile VAS Rev date:01-04-2011

Page: 1 For Internal Circulation Only BSNL, India

E2-E3: ENTERPRISE & WHOLESALE

CHAPTER-8

LANDLINE AND MOBILE VAS

(Date of Creation:01-04-2011)



Landline and Mobile VAS

Introduction-Landline VAS

Value-added services (VAS) are those services that offer differentiation or a value to the

bearer service and the ability for telecom operators to charge a premium price. For a

telecom operator‟s perspective VAS is very important as it is a revenue driver. All the

telecom service users want to have many other services over and above the basic service.

VAS plays a very important role when the telecom market moves towards saturation

level.

BSNL as a telecom service provider is providing following value added services over

basic service:

ISDN (Integrated Service Digital Network)

An ISDN subscriber can establish two simultaneous independent calls (except when the

terminal equipment is such that it occupies two 'B' channels for one call itself like in

video conferencing etc.) on existing pair of wires of the telephone line (Basic rate ISDN)

where as only one call is possible at present on the analog line /telephone connection. The

two simultaneous calls in ISDN can be of any type like speech, data, image etc. ISDN

also supports a whole new set of additional facilities, called Supplementary Services.

Normal Telephone & Fax (G3) and G4 Fax

Digital Telephone -with a facility to identify the calling subscriber number and

other facilities.

Data Transmission at 64 Kbps with ISDN controller card

Video Conferencing

Types of Accesses in ISDN

There are two types of "accesses" (connections) for ISDN.

Basic Rate Access(BRA): 2B+D 2Channels of 64 Kbps for Speech And Data. 1Channel

of 16 Kbps for Signalling

Primary Rate Access (PRA): 30B+D 30Channels of 64 Kbps for speech and

data1Channel of 64 Kbps for signaling

Internet Facility:

Sancahrnet:

BSNL is providing Internet service throughout the entire country (except in New Delhi

and Mumbai) under the brand name of "Sancharnet". Sancharnet provides free all India

http://www.sancharnet.in/



roaming and enables it's users to access their accounts, using the same access code

(172233) and user ID from any where in the Country. In order to make Internet available

through out the length and breadth of the Country Internet Dhabas are being

commissioned at all the Block Headquarters. BSNL provides the following types of

connections to access Internet to customer:

PSTN dial up access

BSNL internet service offers flexible options of access plans for PSTN dial-up in various

slabs of 25,50,100, 200, 500 and 1,000 hours. With Sancharnet dialup account you get all

india roaming advantage which is not available with any other ISP because you can

access sancharnet internet by dialing '172233' from any city in India.

ISDN dial up access

Subscribers can have blazing fast Internet surfing and download speeds in 64 and 128

Kbps ISDN dial up connections. The uniform all India access no. for ISDN access is

'172225'.

Account free Internet dial up access based on CLI

CLI based internet service is a unique method providing Internet service in which the

Customer can access the Internet service from any telephone through dial up. The service

allows automatic registration on first LOGIN. The authentication will be based on CLI of

the telephone with the password supplied by the caller. The charging is totally usage

based and the service is a post paid service like normal PSTN.The billing will be separate

based on the duration of use and will be charged to telephone bill(CLI based) as Internet

access charge at the prescribed rate. The service is available in selected cities.The access

no. of this service is '172222' in all cities.

BROADBAND connection

Broadband service is based on DSL technology (on the same copper cable that is used for

connecting telephone). This provides high speed internet connectivity upto 24 Mbps. This

is always - on internet access service with speed ranging from 256Kbps to 24 Mbps.

SANCHARNET CARD

BSNL has also launched "SANCHARNET CARD" recently. The Sancharnet Card"is a

prepaid Internet Access Card with following features for customers:

Self-register for internet access with your choice of userid

Renew your existing Sancharnet Account



Wide Range of Internet Access Packages

Webfone service

This is an internet telephony service through which a subscriber can make ISD calls over

internet to any fixed or mobile phone or on PC in a foreign country at a very nominal

rate.

Intelligent Network Services:

Freephone Service (FPH) (Access code : 1800)

This service gives Service Users (calling party) the opportunity of calling the Service

Subscriber (called party) free-of-charge via the PSTN by dialing a universal directory

number from any part of the country. The call-fee is charged to the service subscriber.By

subscribing to this service business, commerce, industry and trade organizations can

advertise and sell their products and services.

Free phone service is an access code based service.

Access Procedure:

The user can make a Freephone call using the following dialing procedure:

Dialling plan: 1800 + SCP code + XXXX

SCP code is a three digit code of the concerned SCP from where free phone service has

been provided to the service subscriber while XXXX is four digit free phone number

allotted to a service subscriber

Virtual Card Calling services (Access code : 1802)

Virtual Card Calling service allows a customer to make calls without cash. The intelligent

network identifies the subscriber placing the call by analysing the account number (16

digit number comprising PIN also) that the subscriber has entered and then completes the

connection.

This service allows users to make calls from any telephone in the network to any

destination. It is a powerful pre-paid card for those who are on the move and who do not

own a telephone.

Virtual card calling service is an access code based service. All virtual card calls are

preceded by the access code 1802 + SCP code. After dialing the access code, the

subscriber is prompted to enter a virtual card number. The validation is done at the SCP.

After this subscriber is prompted to enter the destination number.



Account card calling (ACC) (Access Code : 1804)

It is a pre-paid card more powerful than VCC having features of renewability and

dynamic PIN that make it easy to use and more secure.

This service allows customer to make calls from any telephone in the network to any

destination. The call charges will be debited to subscriber account number. The

originating telephone number will not be charged. Registration fee is Rs.5000/- + S.T.

Card can be renewed by paying additional installment in multiple of Rs.1000/-. The

account number is eight digit & PIN is 4 digit.

Virtual Private Networks (VPN) (Access code: 1801)

The VPN service allows public network operators to provide private network features,

e.g. Private Numbering Plan (PNP) and Screening capabilities, using the public network

infrastructure. The Service Subscriber can directly manage and administer his VPN via

the Customer Control feature. VPN is typically used to interconnect geographically

distributed PBXs. This service enables the subscribers to form an imaginary network

within a real network on existing telephone lines.

Corporates and others can subscribe to VPN service i.e. they can have their own

VPN network by utilizing the existing telephone lines .

VPN subscribers can have their own private numbering plan.

The VPN users can make calls inside VPN group, outside VPN group to external

numbers or they can use resources of VPN to make calls inside VPN from off-net

positions or calls can be made from off-net to external numbers while using VPN

resources.

Premium Rate services (PRM) (Access code: 1867)

The Premium Rate service enables service users to access the information offered by the

service subscriber against payment of a fee. This is accomplished via the announcement

facilities or in direct dialog mode. This way, information can be “sold” over the

telephone. The fee charged to the calling party for using the service is composed of the

connection part of the network operator and a part for the information of the service

subscriber. The network operator collects the total amount which, based on the call-

related data, is split on an agreed-upon key between the service subscriber and network

operator.

The service subscriber is given a 4-digit PRM number which can be accessed form any

where in the network.



Universal Number / Personal Number Services (Access Code: 1860/1868)

This service allows a subscriber to have a universal number (UAN). All the incoming

calls for this number shall be routed to different destinations depending upon

the geographical location of the caller, the time, the day, or the date on which the calls

are made.

Company/ Corporates can assign single access number to their offices located at

different places.

Based on the network involved in routing the call, the UAN service is divided into

two categories:

1) UAN Local: When the calling party and the destination number of UAN are in same

city i.e. they have same STD code, the UAN calls are local calls and calling person will

be charged at normal local call rates. The dialing plan for UAN Local is :

1860 + SCP code + 4 - digit UAN No.

2) UAN National: When the calling party and the destination number of UAN are in

different cities i.e. they have different STD codes, the UAN calls are long distance calls

and calling person will be charged at normal long distance call rates. The dialing plan for

UAN National remains same as UAN local:

1860 + SCP code + 4 – digit UAN No.

UAN calls can be charged on full charge basis to calling party or on split basis to calling

& called party also.

UAN service is also interesting for individual persons with changing whereabouts, if they

wish to be reached at any time in any location under the same directory number. If

necessary, the service subscriber himself can change the destination number from any

telephone line. This enables a follow-me function (Universal Personal Number Service).

The dialling plan for UPN service is:

1868 + SCP code + 4 – digit UPN No.

1.3.7 Televoting services ( VOT) (Access code : 1803,1861)

This service allows conduct of public polls and surveys through normal telephones. It is

a boon for TV producers, serial makers, manufacturers, service providers and all others

who conduct survey for their products and services including public opinion on various

issues of common interest etc.



Dialing plan:

There are two options available for televoting service:

(i) The televoting number is kept as a toll free number and subscriber of televoting

service pays the charges for incoming calls.

The numbering/ dialing plan is: 1803 + SCP code + XX YY where XX will be assigned

to subscriber and are fixed while YY are choice digits.

(ii) The subscriber of televoting service does not pay for the incoming calls and

calling party pays for the call charges for participating in the televoting.

The numbering/ dialing plan is:

1861 + SCP code + XX YY where XX will be assigned to subscriber and are fixed while

YY are choice digits

.

Call Now Cards:

It is a normal ITC card but specifically designed tariff to suit the requirement of users

making heavy International/STD calls. Dialing procedure and features are same as that of

ITC but the tariff is different from ITC and also different for different denomination of

Call Now cards.

Personalized Ring Back Tone service:

This service is just like the caller tune service in mobile phones. The landline subscribers

can also set the ring back tone to be heard by the calling customer as per his choice. This

service is under testing phase and will be available commercially very soon.

MultiPlay

Multiplay service allows the customer to have data, video and voice service on the same

line. The video service can be IPTV (broadcast) and video on demand. Presently this

service is started only in few cities like Pune, Banglore, Kolkata etc.

Audio Conferencing

Audio Conferencing service allows multiple participants to converse with each other

regardless of their location through the normal fixed line telephone or cellular phone. An

audio conference subscriber can add two or more participants in a particular conference.

The customers can schedule their audio conferences through the Web or through IVR.

The service is available to existing BSNL subscribers only. Conference can be



scheduled one time or standing. A standing conference is always on. The authorized

participants has just to dial in a particular telephone number followed by a password to

enter into a conference. On demand conference can be made. The chairperson can invite

several users one by one in the conference without using the web. He/she has to just dial

a number followed by certain number and the called party number for doing a conference

call.

Video Conferencing

Video Conferencing service allows multiple participants to converse with each other

regardless of their location through the video end-points or Personal computers. It

involves Video and Audio communication. A video conference subscriber can add two or

more video participants in a particular conference. The customers can schedule their

video conferences through the Web. The video conferencing service can be availed by

any user through IP or ISDN interface. The service is available to existing BSNL

subscribers only. Personal computer user can download the software called "PVX" from

BSNL's Video Conferencing Portal to avail the Video Conferencing facility with their

web-cam.

Short Message Service:

SMS can be send and received through landline telephones. For this the subscriber will

have to purchase a SMS enabled handset.

Online Billing Enquiry and payment

Online billing enquiry and payment service is made available by BSNL for many cities

where one can see the status of telephone bills as well as pay the bills online.

ECS(Electronic Clearance Scheme):

This service is a recognized service by RBI through which a subscriber can pay his

telephone bills through their bank accounts. The willing customers have to get registered

for this service.

Centrex Service:

Centrex is a communication service which integrates a subscriber‟s all multi located

Telephone lines (Existing and New) into a single highly functional communication group

with more distinctive features without any additional equipment (like EXABX) at the

subscriber‟s premises. A subscriber having two or more telephone connections can avail

this service in which a centrex group will be formed. All the calls made between the



numbers of the group will be made by using a short code and will not be charged. But all

the calls made outside the group will be charged at the normal applicable tariff.

In a way centrex facility is like having a PBX like facility between the numbers which are

geographically distant away in a city without owning a PBX and maintaining it.

Answering Machine Service:

On the landline numbers answering machine service can be provided by the centralized

equipment installed at the exchange. The subscriber can divert his/her calls to answering

machine in case of no reply or busy to record some messages and later on he/she can take

the messages from the answering machine.

12555 Service:

On landline numbers by dialing 12555 the subscribers can have many types of

services like:

Latest Bollywood songs

Old classic songs

Jokes

Horoscope

International/National news

Cricket news

Different contests

Finance/stocks related news

Travel information etc

Different services can be added/deleted from time to time as per the agreement with the

third party content provider.

Mobile VAS:

Introduction:

In India, Mobile VAS has become a big part of the mobile user's life today. With over

450 million mobile phone subscribers in India today and having the second largest

subscriber base in the whole world - Indian Telecom Industry has started witnessing an

era when Users buy mobile phones not just to be in touch, but to express themselves,

their attitude, feelings and interests.

Today mobile phones have moved beyond their fundamental role of voice

communications and are increasingly being used to provide a number of value added



services. Proliferation of mobile services has given an opportunity to service providers to

develop new VAS applications and generate new revenue streams. Customers

continuously want more application and services from their phone. They use their cellular

phones to play games, read news headlines, surf the Internet, keep a tab on astrology, and

listen to music, make others listen to their music, or check their bank balance.

Mobile - VAS

Value Added Services are those services which are not part of basic voice but are availed

by telecom service providers to enrich their offerings.

Typically, in nineties SMS and itemized billing would be categorized as VAS. Later on

with the evolution of mobile networks from GSM to GPRS and EDGE Personalized

Ringtones, Caller Ringback tones(CRBT), SMS based information, Multi media

messaging (MMS) etc became the main value added services.

VAS data services are based on bearers like SMS, USSD (Unstructured Supplementary

Services Data), WAP,GPRS, EDGE and 3G.

Why Mobile VAS ?

In the fast evolving mobile telephony space, Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) from

Voice services are plateauing as plain voice service is increasingly becoming

commoditized. In such a scenario, innovative Value Added Services offer an opportunity

to Telecom Service Providers to differentiate their offerings in the market. Service

providers are bringing new value added services in order to satisfy the growing demand

of Indian consumers. Many a times customers choose a particular service provider

depending upon the VAS offerings from that serive provider. So as the competition is

becoming fierce to acquire and retain customers. Mobile service providers are making all

out efforts to introduce newer and newer services to woo customers.

Value Added Services used by a particular customer are often extension of his persona.

Uunderstanding needs of different segment of users is essential for offering right kind of

services. Thus unlike voice business, market dynamics play an important role in VAS

business. Understanding the market needs and accordingly applying the principles of

Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning (STP) to decide a particular service, have a key

role. These fundamental aspects about VAS can not be overlooked while formulating a

strategy for VAS business.

A glimpse of various types of VAS is depicted in Exhibit 1.



Exhibit 1: A Glimpse of Various Types VAS.

Market Size and Revenue Potential:

With voice increasingly becoming a commodity and the current Mobile VAS industry

being expected to touch Rs 16520 crore by end June 2010 from current level of Rs 5780

crore the MVAS industry is attracting wireless operators, handset manufacturers, content

developers, music & film companies, cartoon artists, game makers and musicians for ring

tones, music, gaming, sports, mobile imagery, WAP, wall papers, logos, SMS based

contests and streaming audio and video.

Though presently VAS contributes a low percentage of revenue of mobile operators, it

holds a huge potential for growth in future. Currently mobile VAS in India accounts for

10% of the operator's revenue but is expected to reach 18% by 2010. As per a report by

Price Waterhouse Coopers(PwC), India's mobile value added service (VAS) market is

estimated to have grown to US$2 billion by 2008. Globally, there has been phenomenal

► NEWS: National, International, Business.

► Finance: Stocks, Forex Rates, Commodity Prices.

► Entertainment: Games, TV, Jokes, Bollywod Songs.

► Travel: Railway Airline

► Downloads: Logos, Ringbones, Caller Tunes

► Astrology Services: Horoscope/Prediction

► Contest: Reality Shows

► MMS: Picture Massages, Clippings

► Music on Demand: Sing a Song and download.

► Cricket: Cricket, Score, Clipping, Commentary

► GPRS/WAP: Mobile Internet, Chat, TV

► Call Alert: When Mobile is Switched off, Busy

► Health: Health, Tips, Beauty Tips

► m-commerce: Transaction-Based Services

► Miscellaneous: Devotional songs, Movies & Music

► Voice Based Applications.



growth in the market and worldwide spending on mobile VAS, including music,

payments and advertising, is forecast to reach US$55.6 billion by 2011.

Exhibit 2A : Total VAS Revenue – Indian Market.

Exhibit 2B : VAS -Share of various Services.

Exhibit 2 depicts total VAS revenue in Indian Telecom market and share of various

services in that revenue pie. An analysis of the data in exhibit 1B reveals aggressive

growth of VAS revenue and decreasing relative importance of text based offerings in

VAS. Non voice revenue has been increasing since 2000. Revenue growth is driven by

SMS( P2P (Person to Person ), A2P (Application to Person) and P2A (Person to

Application) contributing about 55% revenue in 2006. Over the last three years, % share

of revenue coming from SMS is on decline as revenue from other services primarily

Ring-tones / CRBT‟s is increasing.

Year VAS Revenue (INR)

2005 2000 cr

2006 2850 cr.

2007 4560 cr



VAS Value Chain:

For the VAS to make an impact Network, Devices (Handsets) and Applications are

critically important. VAS value chain primarily consists of six entities involved in the

flow as depicted in Exhibit 2. Content owner owns the content and Aggregator modifies

that content to suit requirement of Consumer and device capability. Software developer

and Technology Enabler assist Aggregator in modifying the content.

Exhibit 3A: VAS Value Chain.

Telecom Service Provider presently dominates the revenue share arrangement in VAS

industry. Overall revenue share split of 70:30 applies to both GSM and CDMA operators.

However this is not the case in developed countries where major share of VAS revenue is

kept by content owner.



Exhibit 3B: Present Revenue Share Arrangement.

VAS : An End User Perspective:

Understanding consumer perspective of VAS is significant for correct positioning of the

VAS. From end user perspective, the important considerations are-

Services as per user need.

Simplicity to use.

Reliability, and

Affordability.

Different segment of customers are interested in different kind of services. For younger

generation entertainment may be primary, for business executives company data and

financial transaction may be more important whereas middle aged people may be more

interested in sports updates. This calls for Segmenting the end user according to their

profile. For a service provider it is important that its offerings cater to a larger section of

the end users.



Exhibit 4: VAS Something For Everyone.

ABC of VAS content

An analysis of Indian VAS customers psychology has shown that Astrology, Bollywood

songs and movies and Cricket are the main content popular with Indian consumer. Hence

Astrology, Bollywood and Cricket related content is termed as ABC of VAS content.

BSNL VAS Services:

Mobile VAS of BSNL can be broadly classified into two categories –

A) Under BSNL Branding-

A1. SIM Tool Kit (STK) Based Services:

These are SMS based services, embedded in SIM tool kit and are easier to use as they are

preconfigured.

On BSNL mobiles, through Cellone Menu users can get various information like News,

Finance, Rail/Air Reservation status, Cricket scores etc. STK based applications are

facilitated by Wireless Internet Browser (WIB). Services are easy to use as user does not

need to dial any short code for accessing any particular service.

Mobile internet

Sports MTV

Jokes

Grocery

Prepaid, messaging

Gambling Company data

Customer data

Banking data

Financial/ Stock news

Other news

Young people

Middle aged

Financial

community/trader

Traveling sales/-business man

Anybody else



On BSNL mobiles these services are powered by Rediff in South and East zones whereas

BSNL has entered into agreement with M/s ACL wireless for provisioning of these STK

based services in North and West zones.

A2. WAP Portal:

Services are GPRS/MMS based and are accessed through wap.cellone.in or

www.cellone.in.

BSNL has entered into agreement with two partners M/s People Infocomm (Mauj) and

Ericsson for these services.

A3. PRBT services:

B) VAS under Third Party Branding:

B1. Pull Based Services-

These services are user initiated as customer sends SMS to a particular short code in

order to get the services. For enabling these services, BSNL has entered into agreements

with various content providers on a revenue sharing basis. At present there are more than

seventy such agreements are in place. Prominent Pull based services are 58888

(Indiatimes), 56882 (MTV), 57272 (Jagran) etc.

B2. Push Based Services.

These services are not user initiated. Customer receives an SMS alert from an Insurance

company, Bank or Financial Institution or a utility company. Such SMS alerts may relate

to reminding the customer about the payment due or about new scheme or a new

insurance product. BSNL has agreements with few companies like Air2web, ACL

wireless, Value First Messaging for provisioning these services.

B3. GPRS Based Services:

These services are available on short code through content providers own WAP site.

C) New VAS in 3G:

In 3 G higher bandwidth, maximum up-to 2 Mbps, would be available to end users. This

will enable provisioning bandwidth hungry applications and services with rich

multimedia content to customers. BSNL has planned Video on Demand (VoD), video

streaming and other multi-media applications in 3 G network.

http://www.cellone.in/



„BSNL Live’ is a WAP Portal which offers one stop shop for all Information,

Entertainment, and Communication related requirements. Through „BSNL Live‟ one can

access on demand Videos clips for various categories like Bolloywood, Astrology,

recipes/ cookery, entertainment, cricket, comics/ animation, Movies and Movie trailers,

Music, Multimedia games and wallpapers, and different tones/tunes etc. It enables us to

get many Value Added Services in much simpler and friendly way.

„BSNL Live‟ provides a variety of services to suit our every day mood. To name a few

following services are on offer-

• Movies: Movies will be streamed on demand i.e. the content will be played in real time

on your mobile from „BSNL Live‟ directly without first getting stored.

• Videos: Video clips of 3-5 minutes on an average are available on demand. We can

choose videos and download from the available huge library of content. The categories of

content varies from astrology, recipes/ cookery, entertainment, cricket to beauty tips/

clips, comics/ animation, Movies and Movie trailers, Music, Multimedia games and

wallpapers, and other different tones/tunes.

Music - Full track song download: You can download full track audio songs (mp3) of our

choice through „BSNL Live‟.

Games: Various Categories of Games viz. Regular (Simple & premium) and multiplayer

branded games are available. We can see only games which are compatible with our

handsets. Thus one needs not to worry about compatibility of games. At the time of

download the customer will be required to pay charges of games.

Accessing ‘ BSNL Live’:

Any handset with WAP browsing capability can be used to access „BSNL Live‟.

„BSNL Live‟ can be accessed by all GSM (2.5 G and 3G) subscribers. However the

videos, movies and full track songs and multiplayer games are heavy on data and to

access these services one needs to have a 3G connection otherwise his experience will be

greatly reduced and the downloads for audio and video clips will take longer time. Before

one can access the „BSNL Live‟, one needs to have correct settings in his mobile.

Settings may be got done in the following way:

All the settings required to access „BSNL Live‟ & avail different services on „BSNL

Live‟ will be pushed to your handset by BSNL.



One can also ask for the settings by sending <make> space <model> of your handset to

58355 by SMS e.g. <Nokia> space <N79> to 58355. After you send the SMS you will in

response get several settings on your handset viz. „bsnllive‟ or „bsnlstream‟ etc. One may

also call BSNL Customer Care Center to know the settings.

Once we get all the settings, we have to save all of them. Out of these several settings the

one pertaining to „BSNL Live‟ (will appear as „bsnllive‟) should be saved as default. In

some handsets the word ‟Bookmark‟ is used instead of default. Thereafter whenever one

wants to access „BSNL Live‟ one can click on his Web browser in his mobile; the „BSNL

Live‟ bookmark will be visible and clicking on it will leads to the Welcome page.

Settings for movie streaming (will appear as „bsnlstream‟) may also be saved in mobile.

D) Other New Value Added Services:

Mandi Bhav – Mandi Bahv service provides rate list of more than 500 commodities from

over 3000 Mandis across India. To subscribe to this service we meed to send SMS

MANDI to 59696.

YO SMS – The service allows a subscriber to send SMS with fonts in different colours.,

backgrounds, sounds and smiley which essentially gives effect of MMS. To subscribe to

this service we need to send SMS YOSMS to 54444.

Handset Security – The service provides a solution for security of subscriber‟s mobile

handset. Whenever a mobile phone is stolen and SIM is changed, subscriber gets a

message about change of SIM to pre-registered mobile nos. To subscribe to this service

we need to send SMS MS to 52222.

Data Security and Backup- In case of theft / loss of subscriber mobile handset, this

solution protects the subscriber data stored in the phone book of handset. The stolen

device can also be disabled remotely so-that data lying in the phone book is not used by

anyone. To subscribe to this service we need to send SMS MS to 52222.

Call Tricker: With this service a user can play various pre recorded sounds in the

background while accepting the call. This sound runs while talking on the phone. The

background sound can be traffic, rain, train etc. To subscribe to this service we need to

send SMS CALL to 52222.



Mail on SMS: This application makes it possible for a subscriber to receive mails on

his/her mobile as SMS. It is also used for receiving/sending mail through mobile phones

without using GPRS. To subscribe to this service we need to send SMS subemail 56688.

Mob-Share ( Photo Video Sharing): It allows BSNL mobile users to instantaneously

share a mobile media viz photos and videos with other BSNL mobile users directly using

a GPRS enabled phone. To start this service we need to send SMS „subs name‟ to 59696.

SMS Counseling: This service provides counseling for general problems/queries from

experts across the globe in 6 major fields namely Love, Workplace, Family, Stress

Management, Feelings, Career and Visa. To subscribe to this service we need to send

SMS HOPE to 54000.

Humshakal: This application helps to understand the similarities a person has with other

celebrities, icons etc. To subscribe to this service we need to send SMS HMM to 54000.

Regulatory Framework for VAS:

With a move to lay down regulation for VAS players, TRAI had issued a consultation

paper for licensing VAS. At present, VAS providers are neither regulated nor licensed

and mainly they act as channel partners of telecom operators. Telecom service providers

by virtue of being owners of the network have near monopolistic advantage in revenue

share agreement.

Concerns have been raised about security related issues with respect to VAS. Recently

there was a standoff between the Department of Telecom and RIM (the maker of the

BlackBerry smart phone). RIM ( Research In Motion), the Canadian company, was under

scrutiny after security agencies had expressed fear that terror group might exploit this

loophole as data sent between BlackBerry devices bypassed the network of Indian

telecom service providers and therefore could not be monitored by the country‟s

intelligence agency. The appropriate regulatory regime for VAS is likely to provide

clarity and transparency in tracking the source.

Conclusion:

For the orderly and fast growth of VAS industry and the entire VAS ecosystem the

challenges and hurdles before the industry needs to be addressed promptly. The revenue

from mobile advertising is likely to open a new revenue stream for VAS players. Mobile

advertising will benefit operators, VAS players, advertisers as well as consumers. On the



user front awareness is likely to remain a problem for high end VAS. However traditional

VAS- SMS, CRBT and Ring-tones are likely to continue to grow with increased user

awareness. A facilitating regulatory framework and transparency in allocation of the

spectrum would go a long way in encouraging the service providers to aggressively push

VAS. VAS players entering into partnership with handset manufactures for

implementing embedded applications and service providers bundling the handsets may

lead to greater adoption of VAS.

Competition is really becoming fierce in VAS space and each service provider including

BSNL is making all out effort to grab a share of VAS market.

BSNL has introduced numerous VAS services on its 3G platform „BSNL Live‟ and other

VAS services. There is a need to create awareness about recently introduced services and

to popularize the services.



Chapter 8: Landline & Mobile VAS

Sample Self Study Objective Type Questions

1. D channel speed in case of PRA is.

A. 16 Kbps B. 256Kbps C. 64 Kbps D. 128 Kbps.

2. Access code for sancharnet card is.

A. 172233 B. 172222 C. 172225 D. 173322

3. Access code for VCC is.

A. 1800 B. 1801 C. 1802 D. none of above.

4. Access code for PRM is.


5 .Access code for televoting toll free number is.


6. To avail handset security service the mobile subscriber has to send SMS on


7. To avail Mandi Bhav service the mobile subscriber has to send SMS on


8. To avail YO SMS service the mobile subscriber has to send SMS on


9. To avail Call Tricker service the mobile subscriber has to send SMS on


10. To avail SMS Counseling service the mobile subscriber has to send SMS on


chapter08. landline & mobile vas

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